Celebrating the beauty of marriage
- ASEAN seen through Wedding Tradtions and Cultures
2018.2.7.-3.22. KF Gallery

To celebrate the inauguration of the ASEAN Culture House, which coincides with the 2017 ASEAN ROK Cultural Exchange Year and the 50th Anniversary of ASEAN, the Korea Foundation will present a special exhibition to showcase traditional and modern wedding cultures of ASEAN Member States by displaying an array of magnificent cultural artefacts and heritages related to the wedding traditions, many of which were contributed by 10 ASEAN Member States.


The exhibition, Celebrating the Beauty of Marriage is held to celebrate the inauguration of the ASEAN Culture House. The show is a display of the wedding cultures of the ASEAN countries, which provides an opportunity to review the diverse cultural-anthropological characteristics, and the present-day significances of a universal system. This exhibition not only aims to visually showcase the historical characteristics, but also the lifestyles, and the cultural networking of the ASEAN countries in today’s world, where different cultures are being blended and merged together more than ever before.

This exhibition has been brought over from the ASEAN Culture House, Busan to KF Gallery in Seoul, welcoming new guests in the new year of 2018. The term “화혼”(華婚, hwa-hon) which is a part of the Korean title of the exhibition is an honorific of another couple’s beautiful marriage. It also signifies the responsibility and the weight of the life of two people who hold different values, building trust based on their love for each other, promising an undetermined future together, and to hold an officially recognized ceremony among their community members to make a family together. A serendipitous encounter between two strangers developing into a hwa-hon does not remain as part of institution, but grows to be completed in life, pieced together with meaningful moments.

The theme of wedding encompasses universality that transcends race and national borders. It also holds the unique narratives that are embedded in each of the peoples and their etiquettes. Therefore, the theme serves as a proposal of new indexes for historical-cultural exploration. This exhibition will be an invaluable starting point for bringing together the universal values that can be found among the diverse and different wedding cultures of ASEAN.

Personal lives and the collective culture is newly structured and expanded through the private and public records on weddings, historical artefacts, and an artistic approach to everyday life, to thereby highlight life’s splendid moments within the exhibition space.

The Narrative of Marriage (Hon-dam)

The exhibition opens with a section called Hon-dam, which focuses on the personal and collective narrative on the wedding. Unique cultural archetypes are embedded in the secretive language that is used to bridge two families together in the process of matchmaking. The peculiar mental images that are conjured when symbolic rhetoric is uttered is the focus, rather than reproducing the record taking culture related to weddings. Ultimately, the goal is to highlight the universality of the collective narrative that is derived from the congregated peculiarities. Classic sentences gathered through various channels, marriage s, and personal records are displayed together in a way that allow the viewers to interpret the marriage vernacular with modern sensibilities.

Items on display
Typography design section composed of proverbs on weddings from different countries; recorded s such as marital vows and certificates, personal letters, and wedding invitations; animation (A Wedding One Autumn Day, 1873).

The Ritual of Marriage (Hol-lyeh)

The second, and main section called Hol-lyeh aims to capture the most special of special moments in life: the wedding. More than 300 items such as wedding attire that is the epitome of traditional craftsmanship and folk aesthetics, and an assortment of personal ornaments, and ceremonial objects are on display, courtesy of the 10 ASEAN countries’ generous donations and loans. This large collection of artefacts is a visual panoply either each on their own, or tied together in groups. Text, sound, and video further aid in exploring the ASEAN wedding culture landscape in a modern light.

Items on display
Traditional wedding attire and personal ornaments, marriage dowry of each country, symbolic marital objects, text and multi-media panel installations, textile work installation, compilation video of a wedding (The Special Moments)

The Relationship of Marriage (Hon-in)

The last section titled Hon-in delves deeper into the stories of marriage. Tales of meeting and coming together, creating a life within a community that continues from generation to generation, emigration, and settlement are weaved together, with the wedding and marriage at its center. The meaning of matrimony now expands from tradition and ceremony to those important moments in life, leading to an open ending. Such stories provide the viewers with the opportunity to further ponder on the mobility of life within the ASEAN community, and the cultural changes.

Items on display
Photography, video installation, personal archives, poem, text presentation.

Collaborative Works

① Old Sayings, New Truths
- Typographic Illustration Design
- Artist: Chung Jin-wook (Graphic designer)
A collection of sayings on marriage. Chung reinterprets the old proverbs and sayings that are passed down by word of mouth to create create single images

② One Roof
- Hand Woven Textile and Installation
- Artist: Lee Jung-eun (Textile designer)
Lee weaves textiles by hand using a loom, and creates clothing and other objects out of them. The subtle gold hued cloth is arranged in the form of a South East Asian wedding umbrella and installed on the ceiling.

③ Short Stories on Marriage
- Text Writing and Digital Presentation
- Collaboration: Kim Mi-seon (Poet)
Wedding traditions of each ASEAN country and their modern-day changes are described in concise pros in the Short Stories on Marriage. It is a collaborative text that is the result of exhibition team researchers and Kim Mi-seon, the writer and poet. The divided cells and a thin sheath between words, sentences, and labels move, giving the viewers the opportunity to imagine an unfamiliar wedding

④ Yunmi’s Album
- Slide Projection
- Artist: Chun Mong-gak (Photographer)
The photography collection called Yoon-mi’s House, a legacy left by now deceased Professor Jeon Mong-gag is well loved for its warm portrayal of his family. Photographs of Jeon’s wedding, and the couple in their silver years are displayed back to back, providing new insight into his family history.

⑤ Ways of Solitude
- Photo slide film (6' 32"), Piano improvisation
- Artist: Patavee Viranuvat, Thailand
Viranuvat’s ornate wedding is a display of a quintessential modernized wedding. However it is also the depiction of the past, remembered as the generation of his parents, and himself, and a new life with his wife filled with happy solitude, and solitary happiness.

⑥ My First and Last
- Photo Slide Film, Personal Objects
- In collaboration with the National Folk Museum, Department of Folk Research
Photographs, and everyday objects of a family currently residing on Geoje island are borrowed and put on display, based on the report about Lee, Soo-beom & Naldoza Rosalie Family’s Household by the National Folk Museum of Korea. Records that are to be the first and last of the family, and everyday objects are arranged in a new light.

⑦ A Wedding Day in Autumn, 1837
- Digital Animation Film (2' 13"), Digital copies of a letter
- Loaned film, courtesy of the National Hangeul Museum
This film features the wedding of Princess Duk-on, the last princess of Joseon. Princess Duk-on (德溫公主, 1822-1844), the last princess of Joseon. She was the youngest daughter of the 23rd King of Joseon, King Soon-jo, and his Queen Soon-won. The letter written by Queen Soon-won to her son in law, Yoon Ui-sun is also on display.

Title

Celebrating the Beauty of Marriage – ASEAN Seen Through Wedding Traditions and Cultures

Period

2018.2.7.(Wed) – 3.22.(Thu)

Time

Mon - Fri 11:00 - 20:00
Sat 11:00 - 17:00
Closed on Sundays and national holidays

Admission

Admission is free of charge.

Docent Tour

Mon-Fri 12:30, 15:00, 17:00
Sat 12:30, 15:00

Inquiries

02.2151.6520
kfcenter@kf.or.kr
www.kf.or.kr
facebook.com/koreafoundationgallery

Map

This exhibition was made possible by the generous support and contributions from the embassies and governments of the 10 ASEAN Member States.
- Brunei Darussalam, Kingdom of Cambodia, The Republic of Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, The Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Republic of the Philippines, The Republic of Singapore, Kingdom of Thailand, Socialist Republic of Vietnam
- With special thanks to the following institutions:





Support Institutions
National Folk Museum of Korea
National Hangeul Museum
International Information and Networking Centre for Intangible Culture Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
Busan University of Foreign Studies


Guest Curator
Juri Cho


Host





Support